Lebanon: Increased violence is the ‘horrific new normal’ for children, warns UNICEF

This article is published in association with United Nations.

Andrea Tenenti, spokesperson for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), told reporters in Geneva that ground clashes inside Lebanon – some of them very close to UNIFIL positions – have become “more violent”.

Peacekeepers have witnessed the “shocking” destruction of villages in southern Lebanon along the UN-patrolled Blue Line that separates the country from Israel, along with ever-deeper Israel Defense Forces (IDF) ground incursions and continuing Hezbollah attacks, the UN said on Tuesday.

While the Mission’s monitoring capabilities are limited because of the hostilities, it has seen Israeli forces carry out incursions about “two or three kilometres deeper” inside Lebanese territory before withdrawing, he said.

Speaking to reporters from Beirut, Mr. Tenenti reported daily Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon as well as missile and drone attacks by Hezbollah into Israel that have caused “widespread destruction” of towns and villages on both sides of the Blue Line.

Villages destroyed

On the Lebanese side, the destruction “has been huge, shocking”. Villages like Kfar Kila, Maroun al-Ras and others “have been completely destroyed by the incursions of the IDF,” he said.

Out of an original population of some 600,000, Mr. Tenenti said that up to 60,000 people remain in UNIFIL’s area of operations in the south and need assistance.

According to the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM), nearly 900,000 people are internally displaced in the country, close to 60 per cent of them from the south.

As of Monday, more than 3,500 people have been killed and nearly 15,000 wounded since the start of the conflict on 8 October last year, as per Lebanon’s Ministry of Health.

UNIFIL itself has suffered “numerous hits on its assets and personnel” throughout the conflict but continues to facilitate life-saving humanitarian work in its area of operations, coordinating daily with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the Lebanese authorities and aid agencies, Mr. Tenenti said.

The Mission’s more than 10,000 peacekeepers from nearly 50 countries remain in their positions and “there is no discussion of withdrawing at all,” he insisted, despite the “very difficult conditions” faced by the peacekeepers close to the Blue Line.

“We are here not only because we need…to monitor and to be present and to do as much as we can to support humanitarian organizations, to assist the local populations, but also for the day after.”

“We are ready to support any agreement that can be decided by both sides,” he added.

The UNIFIL spokesperson further stressed that while Security Council resolution 1701, which forms the basis for the mission’s mandate, has been “significantly challenged” in the last 14 months, its key provisions of safety, security and long-term solutions “remain valid”, while its full implementation is still “one of the most viable political roadmaps to peace”.

Children’s horror normalized

UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson James Elder warned about the “silent normalization of horror” for the children of Lebanon, where three youngsters have been killed each day on average for the past two months, and “many more [are] injured, many more traumatized”.

“We must hope that humanity never again allows the ongoing level of carnage of children in Gaza, though there are chilling similarities for children in Lebanon,” he said.

These include the fact that hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee their homes amid Israeli airstrikes and that “disproportionate attacks” have hit the infrastructure that children rely on, notably medical facilities.

Mr. Elder also spoke of the “grave psychological impact” of the war on youngsters and deplored the lack of a “meaningful response” to the killing of children from “those with influence”. 

Last weekend’s airstrikes in central Beirut have shown that, like in Gaza, “nowhere is safe” in Lebanon, the UNICEF spokesperson said.

Fluid frontline

“The frontline shifts everywhere. Families… are told to move. They don’t know where to move to,” he said, emphasizing that for families who have lost their homes and are living in shelters, “that shelter does not represent any form of real safety to them”.

“Once more, the cries of children go unheard, the world’s silence grows deafening, and again we allow the unimaginable to become the landscape of childhood. A horrific and unacceptable new normal,” Mr. Elder concluded.

Amid a continuing desperate humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, UN World Health Organization (WHO)’s spokesperson Margaret Harris raised the alarm about the conditions in Beit Lahiya’s embattled Kamal Adwan hospital.

The hospital’s 78 patients lack food, drinking water and medical supplies. “It’s really only enough for two weeks at very best, but a lot of the specific supplies are just not there,” she warned.

Missing medics

The hospital is also short on medical staff, with only one paediatrician and one resident orthopaedic volunteer doctor. Four planned WHO missions to the hospital were denied by the Israeli authorities between 8 and 16 November while two other missions which were granted access, were not allowed to bring fuel, supplies or water.

“We urgently, urgently need to be able to bring in the correct aid to do the work to keep Kamal Adwan hospital functional,” Dr. Harris appealed. “And that means regular, unobstructed access, not arbitrary denials.”

“We need to be able to bring in the emergency medical teams. There are wonderful people who are willing to risk a very dangerous situation to help those children, but we’re not being able to get them in,” she said.